The tallest building in the world

The view of the tallest building in the world!

It is called Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It is 2,716.5 feet tall!

Bat causes airliner to land

A bat got loose on an Atlanta-bound flight, forcing horrified passengers to duck for cover. The flying mammal appeared about 15 minutes after Delta flight 5121, operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines, took off from Madison, Wis., and cruised around the cabin above passengers’ heads. “The captain called the control tower to say the plane was returning to the airport to remove a winged animal.” said Brent McHenry, spokesperson for the Dane County Regional Airport in Madison. A passenger near the rear of the plane shooed the bat into the restroom and shut the door, to the cheers of fellow riders. When the plane landed the bat flew into the terminal. More

Roads being closed for toads

Two roads Canada’s British Columbia, are being closed for the annual migration of baby western toads. Ryder Lake and Elk View roads in Chilliwack will be closed with what locals call “toad blocks” for a few hours each day for the next two weeks. About 1 million baby toads, about the size of a fingernail, will make the migration from the lake areas where they are born to wooded areas where they will live their adult lives. More

Woman saves dog by punching bear in face

Black bears in residential neighborhoods aren’t exactly unheard of in Juneau. While many people stay inside when bears are about, one local woman says she had a different instinct when she saw her dog was in trouble. It started out as a typical evening for 22-year-old Brooke Collins. She let her dogs out as usual but this time, she said there was a black bear outside who took hold of her dachshund Fudge. She said she feared for her pet’s life and, in an instant, ran over and punched the bear right in the face to make it let go. “It was all so fast. All I could think about was my dog was going to die,” said Collins. Her dog suffered some claw and bite marks but they weren’t deep so she said she decided not to take Fudge to the vet. More

Woman Too Fat To Get In car, Lets Niece, 6, Drive

Police say a western Pennsylvania woman endangered her 6-year-old niece by having the girl back the woman’s car out of a tight parking spot, wrecking two other parked cars in the process. Police charged fifty-five year old Rebecca Beatty after she picked up her niece from a dance program at Ambridge Area High School. Beatty found another car parked too close for her to enter her own vehicle through the driver’s side so she had her niece get in and back the car out. Police say the child hit a parked car, pushing it over a curb until it hit another car parked on the street. More

Squirrel blamed for flag thefts from memorial

Police in Ohio have discovered that small flags being swiped from a police memorial were being squirreled away. Two Toledo officers watched as a squirrel quickly snatched a flag off its wooden dowel and ran off with it. Lt. James Brown said the bushy-tailed critter was too quick to catch. Later, police noticed a squirrel hanging out on a tree branch outside a third-floor window at their headquarters building. They also spotted a squirrel’s nest made of leaves and branches and at least two of the little flags. More

Jogger struck by hawk

A Missouri man who felt something hit the back of his head while he was jogging in the early morning said he believes he was attacked by a hawk. Brian Foster, 29, an employee of KMBC-TV in Kansas City, said he was jogging at the corner of 147th Street and Metcalf Avenue about 5 a.m. when he felt something strike the back of his head. Foster, who was not seriously injured, said he quickly turned around and spotted a bird he believes to be a hawk flying away. There have been several hawk sightings in the area and officials have warned residents of aggressive hawks attacking small pets. More

Chihuahua Blamed For Halting Neighborhood’s Mail

Residents in one Vallejo neighborhood started seeing mail arrive again, which signaled the end of a several-day service suspension imposed on them after a mailman was spooked by a local Chihuahua. The suspension began when Mocha, a 1-and-a-1/2-year-old Chihuahua, ran up to a mailman who walking his route on Vervais Ave. and circled the carrier a few times, according to the dog’s owner. The dog’s owner, who wished to remain anonymous, said the mailman became upset and announced he was putting the neighborhood’s mail delivery on hold. The following day, residents on the 500 block of Vervais Ave. said a letter arrived in their mailboxes telling them that home delivery would not resume until the dog was secured on a leash or in some other fashion. Until then, neighbors would have to go to the local post office for their mail. More

Bear smacked man off his bicycle, ripped tire off

A Panama City man is recovering after colliding with a black bear while riding his bike to work. John Hearn said he saw something out of the corner of his eye while riding hib bike to work. The nearly 300-pound bear smacked him off his bicycle and then fled into some nearby woods. Passing motorists stopped to help Hearn, who sustained minor injuries. The back tire of his bike was also ripped off. More

Dog eats $10K worth of diamonds

The pooch dined on a meal of $10,000 worth of diamonds. Honey Bun often walks the counters at John Ross Jewelers. He’s not much of a guard dog, but he is great with customer relations. “He’s been loved,” said co-owner Chuck Roberts. Customers sometimes hide treats in their purse for Honey Bun. It happened two weeks ago when a customer came in. “A customer came in and I jumped up out of my chair and came out here to wait on him. And I left the chair where you could jump up on my chair and jump up on my desk,” said Roberts. On the desk: four packs of loose diamonds, about a carat each to set in diamond earrings, pens, and dog treats. When he returned, only three packs remained, and an empty pouch was lying on the floor. “The next afternoon, sure enough, the earring back and two diamonds were recovered.” More

Four foot crack on the Washington Monument

There is a four-foot-long by one-inch-wide crack on the Washington Monument. The crack is located at the very top of the monument on the west side of the pyramidion, the four-sided pyramid portion of the building. The crack is not visible to the naked eye when one is looking at it from the ground. The Washington Monument remains temporarily closed as engineers inspect the structure for additional damage from the earthquake. Line describes the cracks as being in the “upper, upper, upper” part of the 555-foot-tall monument. He says engineers are inside the building and would continue to evaluate the situation as necessary. He adds there is no timetable for when the 127-year-old structure would reopen and that the National Park Service would carefully evaluate all information before deciding how to proceed with repairs. More

Zoo Animals Go Wild Ahead of Quake

Well before any humans ducked beneath desks or sought shelter in doorways, wildlife at the zoo started to react to the oncoming earthquake. The red-ruffed lemurs started barking an alarm call, 15 minutes before the shift along the Central Virginia Seismic Zone caused Richter scales to leap at 1:51 p.m. However, the lemur’s housemates, the howler monkeys, were not as keen. They only started making noise after the zoo started shaking. The big mammals also started shrieking before the quake registered. Zookeepers said Iris the Orangutan started “belch vocalizing” before the earthquake started, and didn’t quit until it was over. Keepers say the orangutan saves that particular sound for moments of extreme upset and irritation. More